Pope and Developing Bigs

BookofMormon

Senior
Mar 27, 2026
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Reaching for anything these days, are we?

Only so much "development" happens in one year.

Let's not credit Scheyer for "developing" anyone - the guy has the $$ and cache to get the best players, they have the genetics. If you told me you went out and got the 50th ranked kid and turned him into a lottery pick over 2-3 years, that is development. Bringing in national POY freshmen is not developing. It's recruiting.

All said, Duke has produced so few great NBA players for what they get.

Right now, in terms of true developers into NBA players, I'm not sure there are that many out there. The only guy I see doing it well are Hurley - he's going to turn Reed (reclamation project) and Karaban (150th ranked recruit) into late first/early second picks. He seems to be the only one discovering talent and shaping it.

Painter and Izzo are as well, with kids like Edey. They simply aren't yielding a ton of great NBA talent.
 

Dr.LutherSan

All-American
Sep 6, 2019
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Just a guess, but I think he recruited Garrison and Kriisa based on games they had against BYU. That is not an indictment of Pope, merely an observational opinion. Not sure about Lamont Butler ... ????
You're correct. Lamont Butler had the Final Four game. I'm assuming that's what got his attention.
 
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Dr.LutherSan

All-American
Sep 6, 2019
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It is true. I mean he is a beginning Coach and he's putting down stuff on paper for players to see...

I have got guys into the league.

There's no arguing that actually
He's not "a beginning coach". He might have "a beginning coach" results, but he is 53 and is going into his 12th year as a head coach.